And we are still in Rhode Island. New England is still amazing and enchanting, but we're starting to feel the chill....nights have been in the 40's and the abundant shade at our campground has gone from a great thing to not so great, since the sun never quite gets here to warm us up.
The leaves here are quickly changing over from green to yellow and red. And dark is coming way to early in the evening. We're starting to see why they close mid-October and don't open back up until April.
Four weeks in to our Rhode Island adventure, we're starting to venture out a little. We went to southern Massachusetts last week, just to wander around and see what we could find. Tomorrow we're going to Boston and then to southern Maine on Thursday. It's not enough, but it's what the budget and the time we have will allow. I still hope to get to Cape Cod before we leave.
I've absolutely LOVED the beaches. Because we arrived after Labor Day, all of the bad things were already gone. No crowds. No parking fee. Dogs..meh...okay. No lifeguards, but I never get in deeper than my knees, so no biggie. So we've had beaches with few other people around...a few big waves thanks to the hurricane that thankfully missed us by "that much"....and fabulous views of blue, blue, blue ocean.
Oh, and I have to give two thumbs up to all of Rhode Island to date. Beach bathrooms are closed, but they all have porta potties in their parking lots. That are CLEAN! And have hand sanitizer! AND TOILET PAPER!!!!!!!!!! If I had more than two thumbs, I'd give them more than that. I love that this state realized people need to pee and allows for it! That goes for the cities, as well. We spent yesterday in Newport and there were public restrooms galore, as well as benches to sit on. It's like they planned for tourists!
Our favorite surprise spot is the Narragansett Cafe in Jamestown. We stopped in after our visit to Beavertail State Park for dinner, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and the atmosphere. We stopped again yesterday evening after our Newport trip (because the pub in Newport had football on so loud it nearly broke my eardrums). The Narragansett had a blues band playing to a packed house at 5:30 in the afternoon. The dance floor was full of 60 to 70-something's dancing like they were still 16. If we didn't have a dog at home and a 30 minute drive, we probably would have stayed longer. We may try to go back next Sunday to see it all again!
The food has been amazing. Expensive, but amazing. Our grocery and dining out expenses were seriously over budget, despite our attempts to do better. We limited our eating out and actually cut back to 2 meals a day on most days. But the grocery stores have things that we can't normally find...like goat gouda! And GOOD gluten-free cookies and bread. I hate to say it, but I miss Sam's Club and Wal Mart for the prices.
My only other gripe about Rhode Island, other than the price of everything, is the speed at which these people drive. It seems like the speed limits are artificially low, but everyone drives 15-20 mph over the speed limit. We try not to do that, as a speeding ticket is definitely NOT in the budget. But we get tailgated constantly. It makes driving around less enjoyable than it should be.
Oh, speaking of driving around....our driving experiences have shown us that although it LOOKS wooded and rural, much of our area of Rhode Island is populated with houses set back really far from the road...with trees between the house and the road. So it feels like you're driving through the woods, but there are really people back there....who zoom out and drive 20 mph over the speed limit!
I'm going to be sad to leave, but am looking forward to going south and seeing more beaches!
We may be back next year, we'll see.
The leaves here are quickly changing over from green to yellow and red. And dark is coming way to early in the evening. We're starting to see why they close mid-October and don't open back up until April.
Four weeks in to our Rhode Island adventure, we're starting to venture out a little. We went to southern Massachusetts last week, just to wander around and see what we could find. Tomorrow we're going to Boston and then to southern Maine on Thursday. It's not enough, but it's what the budget and the time we have will allow. I still hope to get to Cape Cod before we leave.
I've absolutely LOVED the beaches. Because we arrived after Labor Day, all of the bad things were already gone. No crowds. No parking fee. Dogs..meh...okay. No lifeguards, but I never get in deeper than my knees, so no biggie. So we've had beaches with few other people around...a few big waves thanks to the hurricane that thankfully missed us by "that much"....and fabulous views of blue, blue, blue ocean.
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| Newport Harbor |
Our favorite surprise spot is the Narragansett Cafe in Jamestown. We stopped in after our visit to Beavertail State Park for dinner, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and the atmosphere. We stopped again yesterday evening after our Newport trip (because the pub in Newport had football on so loud it nearly broke my eardrums). The Narragansett had a blues band playing to a packed house at 5:30 in the afternoon. The dance floor was full of 60 to 70-something's dancing like they were still 16. If we didn't have a dog at home and a 30 minute drive, we probably would have stayed longer. We may try to go back next Sunday to see it all again!
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| Paella and crab cakes |
My only other gripe about Rhode Island, other than the price of everything, is the speed at which these people drive. It seems like the speed limits are artificially low, but everyone drives 15-20 mph over the speed limit. We try not to do that, as a speeding ticket is definitely NOT in the budget. But we get tailgated constantly. It makes driving around less enjoyable than it should be.
Oh, speaking of driving around....our driving experiences have shown us that although it LOOKS wooded and rural, much of our area of Rhode Island is populated with houses set back really far from the road...with trees between the house and the road. So it feels like you're driving through the woods, but there are really people back there....who zoom out and drive 20 mph over the speed limit!
I'm going to be sad to leave, but am looking forward to going south and seeing more beaches!
We may be back next year, we'll see.
I hear ya about the driving speed. I don't like to drive as fast as many of those New Englanders. Zoooom! Eek!
ReplyDeleteIt's really strange. If the speed limit is forty and you are doing forty they will climb inside your muffler. If you choose to do forty two miles an hour they back off.
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